We decided to go to Europe.

Yep, we did. We had a little extra money so we bought a flight to Europe. Actually, this is a joke. We are in Argentina at the moment but you wouldn´t know it based on the outdoor cafes we choose to dine at and the lack of dark-skinned latinos to remind us that we are still in South America. Buenos Aires really lives up to it´s reputation as being the most European city in South America. There are big open parks, functioning metro services, trendy shops, and a LOT of style. I will delve more into Buenos Aires in a moment, but allow me first to get you up to date.

After hiking the W trail in Torres del Paine, Hallye and I and our Aussie friend Chris took off for Argentina. We took the bus across the border into Bariloche, Argentina. This was a lovely mountain resort town with some of the best winter sports attractions in South America. Unfortunately we arrived a little too early to enjoy the winter activites as it is still late fall around here but we enjoyed what the city had to offer nonetheless. Bariloche was filled with chocolate shops and winter gear shopping. Because of the high volume of german/austrian/swiss immigrants years back, we really felt like we were in a little village in the alps. The city is situated on a lake and the snowy mountains stood on the other side. All of the architecture had this European influence and the gastronomy was also tell-tale of swiss and german settlers. We took the opportunity in Bariloche to relax and take it easy after our hiking adventure. Our hostel was very comfortable and we were able to watch movies and take short day hikes around town up to great look-outs of the mountains. In Bariloche we took advantage also of the delicious chocolate shops on every corner and great argentinian wines that are sold for about 2 dollars a bottle (and here cheap does NOT mean bad).

After we felt that we had had our fill of Bariloche, we took the 20 hour bus to Buenos Aires. Here, dinner starts at 9, bars start at 12 and discoteca starts at 2. For this, I have just recently woken up (1:00) and am getting my day started. I do not feel like I have wasted half a day as I would at home because I know that the day will end at midnight. The first hostal we stayed in here was in the centro (downtown). We didn´t last very long there because it was filled with a bunch of British soccer hooligans who just sat in front of the big screen all day smoking cigs and drinking and watching football. We found few people that wanted to be social there so we decided to move to a different part of town. Now we are staying in a hotel in Palermo, the trendy upscale part of town. This is also where our friend Aaron is renting an apartment so we are not far from him and his friend and have visited their place numerous times to pass the hours after dinner before going out.

We have already had the pleasure of seeing a soccer match here in BA and let me tell you, it was the experience of a lifetime. Our group of six headed out the day of the match to buy our tickets to the Boca Juniors game and by the time we arrived at the ticket office, the general admission tickets were all sold out and we were forced to by platform tickets for about 20 dollars a piece (which is considered big spending here on a ticket). We were a little bummed about the fact that we were going to be sitting in a nice comfortable seated section..we were wanting the loud raucous experience! Well, we concluded there was nothing to do about it so we left the ticket office and went to have a few pregame beers in a bar nearby. Our pregame celebration was cut short by the fact that bars are prohibited from selling alcohol two hours before game time (to avoid already rabid fans from getting drunk and killing eachother). We left and went down the street and found out that this guy was selling beer to people by pouring it into empty three liter coke bottles. So we got a few and continued enjoying the pregame atmosphere.

All of us were decked out in Boca gear that we had bought earlier in the day so we fit right in with all the fellow Boca fans. Boca (the team loved by BA) was playing a team from Venezuela so it wasn´t hard to decide who we should be rooting for. The only problem was that as we were walking to the stadium that was several blocks from the metro stop where we got off, we apparently were still treading through rival territory. Fans for the other BA team which was not playing that day, would yell at us as they drove or walked by. It dawned on us why we had been seeing other Boca fans with jacket zipped up over their jerseys in 75 degree weather. NOT a good idea to sport your jersey before you get to the stadium. You are bound to get your butt kicked by SOMEONE. There was even a truck that drove by filled with half toothless men yelling at us and banging sticks on the side of the truck. We were a little scared by them and picked up our pace as we walked to the stadium.

So as we were waiting for kickoff, we were hanging out on a side street sidewalk drinking beer and hanging out with other Argentinian Boca fans. We ended up making friends with a few of them and they suggested that we enter with them and perhaps we could make it into the ¨popular¨section where all the crazy fun happens. This ended up working for Hallye and I because we entered with the Argentinian girl we made friends with. Side note: Hallye and I were basically celebrities that night. Not only were we two of just probably about 20 girls in the entire stadium, but apparently everyone thought it was cool that 1) We were female 2) We were American and 3) we were soccer fans wearing the BOCA jersey. IN LIKE FLYNN!

So we got in with the girl (basically ushered past everyone in line because of our female-ness) and made our way to the popular section. Ok picture this...you know on tv (if you have ever seen a pro soccer match on tv) that certain section in the stands where people are jumping up and down for 90 plus minutes chanting and throwing stuff and playing drums and being crazy??? That is where we were! We were in the middle of crazy fan fun chanting the Boca chant and getting our eardrums blown out by the big drums right next to our heads that didn´t stop playing for the duration of the match. We were fist pumping the entire night and acting like we knew the words to all the songs. Luckily Boca scored two goals in the second half and kept the Venezuelans at zero so we didn´t have to worry about trying to exit this madness among pissed off men. It was a championship game, too, so a loss really would have been detrimental to Hallye and my safety.

So basically we are enjoying BA´s vibe and atmoshpere and are taking full advantage of the nightlife. There are gorgeous parks just near our hotel and we love to spend time in cafes and parks. I have picked up jogging again since BA is a great place for running (nice wide and flat surfaces). Monday we set out to Iguazu Falls (google image this!). I will return to Buenos Aires and stay here for the next few weeks before flying home on the 19th. So our trip is coming to a close! You can expect some more postings though as we still have a lot to see and do and tell you about. For now, I have to go though and probably take a nap....Saturday night is quickly approaching. Hope everyone is still reading and enjoying. Be in contact soon.
Katie